CLASS OF 2014...how ya doing?

[breenie]

That's a pretty inflammatory statement...
Worst vet I've ever worked with was an AU grad (removed a dogs bladder instead of uterus during a spay) but I certainly don't think all AU vets are bad. I've met some great ones. I've also met great and bad Mizzou, CSU and Illinois vets. I firmly believe that you get out of vet school what you put into it no matter which one you attend.

I know everyone is distracted by the firestorm, but I would like to interject with:

WTF? Can you elaborate at all?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[dyachei]

Just wanted to remind everyone to keep it friendly/civil.

 

[Minnerbelle]

ok... so before our little lovey dovey family falls apart...

would it be fair to just summarize that everyone's view as a whole is that as long as each of us gets through vet school, each vet school will provide all the tools and knowledge and skills so that we are all able to succeed as veterinarians. There are bad veterinarians out there, but that's because the individuals did not get out from their school experience everything they needed to in order to succeed. Not really the fault of the school (I guess certain people might just not jive with certain curricula, but that's a different issue).

as for whether certain schools are harder or easier, I think bunnity's right. I'm sure that overall, different vet schools have different ways of doing things, and that will certainly affect the "difficulty" of that curriculum at least for that semester. It might be that some schools like to ease students in, and that they'll make up for it by making later semesters extra hard. It might be that some schools put way too much superfluous information into their curriculum that will not be helpful to a practicing vets, and grade students on useless info. Some schools like to say that if you understand the material well enough to know everything you need to know to become a good clinician, that's an A. Some schools like to say that's a C, and that only people who achieve expert knowledge in that subject will get an A. Some schools are just pass/fail and don't want you to even care about grades per se.

though i'm sure that the above holds true, i'm not sure we can pinpoint between any two given schools "which is harder." Unless you're concurrently sitting in two different schools at once, you just can't really make that comparison. someone might say, well everyone in my class is struggling and no one's getting an A, but everyone in your class seem to be getting good grades. but to say the cause of that correlation is due to class difficulty is just as valid as the other person saying that the correlation is due to the fact that the class as a whole in the alleged "easier" school is smarter (and i hope you can all tell that is just absurd).

i think it's also important to account for individual differences too. it's not like people who are struggling in what they personally perceive as the "harder" curricula would automatically do better with an "easier" curriculum. they might be struggling just as bad in either curriculum. and certain types of things are harder for different people too. i personally happen to have a lot of free time on my hands simply because i've pretty much already taken all of the courses i'm in now, and my previous coursework went into much more detail (anatomy being the exception). so i can get away with not studying till I burst, but that doesn't hold true for everyone. i know there are people in my class who study 24/7 and are still struggling. so i personally have no way of determining how difficult the curriculum at CSU is, much less how difficult it is in comparison to other schools. i mean, i dunno how much more/less i would be studying if i went anywhere else. i dunno if i would be any more stressed. i love the curriculum here, but i know a bunch of people who absolutely hate it

 

[rileyroo]

Wow...

I'm sorry that I misunderstood what you were saying...obviously it was easy to take the wrong way since I wasn't the only one. My whole point about the auburn thing was that different schools are for different people (plus you can ask any of my friends that go to auburn that MSU was my first choice). There is NO need to try to bring me down in any way

i'm not, you are taking things too personally and i followed up my original post saying that the important thing is that you are in vet school and that you love where you are. does it even matter what your first choice school was now? is it even necessary to argue about it? i really could care less, and went out of my way to try and calm you down by saying "the important thing is...you are in vet school and you love it."

and essentially we are saying the same thing in different ways...there are different programs for a reason. i personally don't like the 2+2, pbl, or a brief period of clinicals at the beginning of the semester. but there are people who prefer each of those programs over others. that's not saying any one way is better. so please stop taking offense to that, it's ridiculous at this point the energy you're requiring to diffuse this situation.

i'm simply not going to reply anymore at this point b/c no matter what i say, you will still be bent out of shape.

/rant.

back to the original overall topic, not the schools/programs debate. moving on!

 

[UM2014]

I know everyone is distracted by the firestorm, but I would like to interject with:

WTF? Can you elaborate at all?

Pretty much exactly what it sounds like. She thought the bladder was the uterus and took it out. Dog didn't make it (obviously), I was really glad I wasn't the tech assisting that day. She was just all kinds of terrible to begin with. Mean to the clients, not good with the patients, rude to other employees had the worst I-know-everything attitude. My boss did his best to mentor her and all she did was shoot him down or try and one up him. She was fired after this fiasco though. No clue what was going through her head and how in the world you manage to do that but from talking to other vets it has happened before. Last I heard she wasn't practicing anymore.

 

[breenie]

Pretty much exactly what it sounds like. She thought the bladder was the uterus and took it out. Dog didn't make it (obviously), I was really glad I wasn't the tech assisting that day. She was just all kinds of terrible to begin with. Mean to the clients, not good with the patients, rude to other employees had the worst I-know-everything attitude. My boss did his best to mentor her and all she did was shoot him down or try and one up him. She was fired after this fiasco though. No clue what was going through her head and how in the world you manage to do that but from talking to other vets it has happened before. Last I heard she wasn't practicing anymore.

Dang, dude. Dang.

I just wonder what her reaction was when she realized that was not the uterus that she just took out...

 

[bunnity]

They really aren't that similar. One is a Y shape with ovaries attached and one isn't... scary.

 

[gilch]

So here's an update from VMRCVM:

I think the one best thing that stand out so far are that we have great professors. Really awesome! They're so dedicated and are fabulous teachers. It's hard to not get excited about something in anatomy or biochem, or histology, etc when the professor has so much enthusiasm. These really cool things keep reminding me why I want to do this and help me go back to school every day.

There are definitely parts that I hate. I feel like I'm not studying enough. I really dislike spending 6-8 hours a day in classes then going home to study. I don't like studying so much then falling short of what I expect. I feel so much pressure, from so many sources, that sometimes I think I'm going to go nuts. I'm not getting enough sleep. I feel like I haven't gotten to know my classmates very well. I really dislike the lack of proper desks in the classroom. I could go on.


I'm working on managing the stress and getting better study habits and I think that will help a lot. Most of our class have been very supportive to each other and, like I said, the professors are great. I'm still happy to be here and that's what's important.

 

[BlacKAT33]

wowww did i start all of this??? lol i'm so sry!! i just wanted to vent to some non-penn friends.

anyway, today was such a great night. After the exam we went to happy hr and there were about 60 of us there. We all started talking and i met about 20 people who said they were crying all week!! i was so shocked but happy at the same time that i wasnt alone!!! i guess everyone was just being secret about it because no one else knew others felt the same way. But i couldnt believe how many had crazy breakdowns like me!

I definitely passed my exam

But i saw 3 people cry today DURING the exam, and 1 person had a panic attack and got only 30% on our practical. (it was a stressful "heart attack" style, "point and shoot" 90 seconds to find things on your scope). And...this was 3 people out of about 25 because they split our class in fourths lol this is not really funny though, i was friends with all of these people. But yea, definitely not feeling like the only one stressed out of my mind!

about the whole school thing--i really didnt want it to get into a fight like that and i dont think anyone meant anything personally all schools teach in different ways and it doesnt make them better than others...and great vets come from all schools!

 

[bunnity]

wowww did i start all of this??? lol i'm so sry!! i just wanted to vent to some non-penn friends.

anyway, today was such a great night. After the exam we went to happy hr and there were about 60 of us there. We all started talking and i met about 20 people who said they were crying all week!! i was so shocked but happy at the same time that i wasnt alone!!! i guess everyone was just being secret about it because no one else knew others felt the same way. But i couldnt believe how many had crazy breakdowns like me!

I definitely passed my exam

But i saw 3 people cry today DURING the exam, and 1 person had a panic attack and got only 30% on our practical. (it was a stressful "heart attack" style, "point and shoot" 90 seconds to find things on your scope). And...this was 3 people out of about 25 because they split our class in fourths lol this is not really funny though, i was friends with all of these people. But yea, definitely not feeling like the only one stressed out of my mind!

about the whole school thing--i really didnt want it to get into a fight like that and i dont think anyone meant anything personally all schools teach in different ways and it doesnt make them better than others...and great vets come from all schools!

Aww I feel so bad that happened during the exam! My section was pretty calm outwardly but I could literally feel my heart beating the whole time.

I'm not surprised about what people were saying during happy hour; I think everyone is feeling it this week. When I came into the histo lab this morning at 8 everyone looked like they hadn't slept or showered in a few days. Oh and you can always feel free to talk to me... I'm a lot better at listening than I am at keeping slides in the right places, I swear

Hope everyone has a relaxing weekend!

 

[GellaBella]

wowww did i start all of this??? lol i'm so sry!! i just wanted to vent to some non-penn friends.

anyway, today was such a great night. After the exam we went to happy hr and there were about 60 of us there. We all started talking and i met about 20 people who said they were crying all week!! i was so shocked but happy at the same time that i wasnt alone!!! i guess everyone was just being secret about it because no one else knew others felt the same way. But i couldnt believe how many had crazy breakdowns like me!

I definitely passed my exam

But i saw 3 people cry today DURING the exam, and 1 person had a panic attack and got only 30% on our practical. (it was a stressful "heart attack" style, "point and shoot" 90 seconds to find things on your scope). And...this was 3 people out of about 25 because they split our class in fourths lol this is not really funny though, i was friends with all of these people. But yea, definitely not feeling like the only one stressed out of my mind!

about the whole school thing--i really didnt want it to get into a fight like that and i dont think anyone meant anything personally all schools teach in different ways and it doesnt make them better than others...and great vets come from all schools!

That's terrible! I didn't know anything like that happened. I was in the section with Bunnity and our group was pretty calm. It was definitely a high pressure situation though! I could feel my blood pressure was up and everyone elses faces looked red so I think theirs was too!

I feel bad for who ever was crying and had a panic attack.

I think this week was really rough on all of us and it doesn't surprise me at all that people have been breaking down emotionally all week. We've been stressed and sleep deprived for over a week now, and like I said, for every person who says out loud that they're feeling confident, there are probably several others who don't say anything at all because they aren't feeling confident and are in fact scared. I'm definitely glad its the weekend because I think just about everyone was at their breaking point, and I guess some people in your section reached it.

At least now we are ALMOST done with this round of exams. Then we'll have some time to catch up on everything else we've been neglecting while studying anatomy and histo.

But I just want to say, Everyone is in the same boat.
We've got some rock stars who are gonna be top of the class. and then there's the rest of us who are going to have our strengths and weaknesses and are going to get through it. I admit it, I freaked out a bit post-anatomy but of course lots of people did. It's hard to go from being a top scoring person in your classes to being average. or maybe even less than average on this first round of exams.

Does that make you a worse future vet? No.
Does it make you unable to handle the curriculum? No.
Does it make you human? absolutely.

And of course, where you go has no bearing on how great of a veterinarian you will be. Certainly different curriculums are better suited for different people simply due to learning style and preference. I think we got screwed this week with the double whammy of exams but I also know I was taking it maybe too easy in the weeks leading up to the exams so I really did it to myself. Now I know that I need to put in more time to be adequately prepared. But I also know that I want to have a life and enjoy time with my fiance, so if that means I get Bs instead of As. so be it.

all in all I am still really enjoying Penn Vet. In fact, I'm enjoying it more and more as the weeks go by. At first it was hard for me, I felt lonely and friendless but as I settle in and find friends (BK!) and get comfortable with it all I'm finding it immensely more enjoyable. dpesn't mean that this past week didn't really REALLY suck.

 

[nyanko]

I'm anatomy-******ed and I posted about it in the Veterinary Students forum.

 

[Vet Engineer]

So here's an update from VMRCVM:

I think the one best thing that stand out so far are that we have great professors. Really awesome! They're so dedicated and are fabulous teachers. It's hard to not get excited about something in anatomy or biochem, or histology, etc when the professor has so much enthusiasm. These really cool things keep reminding me why I want to do this and help me go back to school every day.

There are definitely parts that I hate. I feel like I'm not studying enough. I really dislike spending 6-8 hours a day in classes then going home to study. I don't like studying so much then falling short of what I expect. I feel so much pressure, from so many sources, that sometimes I think I'm going to go nuts. I'm not getting enough sleep. I feel like I haven't gotten to know my classmates very well. I really dislike the lack of proper desks in the classroom. I could go on.


I'm working on managing the stress and getting better study habits and I think that will help a lot. Most of our class have been very supportive to each other and, like I said, the professors are great. I'm still happy to be here and that's what's important.

Those are pretty much my exact feelings. My undergraduate degree is in mechanical engineering so I'm not one of those people who is still 'reviewing'. My fluid mechanics class is making vascular physiology seem extremely simple, but that's such a small part of just one class. Needless to say, vet school is kicking my @*$, but whenever I get to do something like palpate a cow or bottle feed fawns, I am reminded why I am here. Plus, knowing ahead of time that it was going to be s*&t show makes me feel better on the bad days.

 

[variegata]

Holy crap that's a lot of (long) replies (that I have neither the patience nor the time to read all of). I did see that one about "where are all the people at other schools" and felt like I should probably speak up since I don't know that there are many 2014 Badgers here.

Anyhow...I have never studied so much in my life, but I am really loving vet school. Madison is a really awesome town, though I admittedly haven't had the chance to make the most of it yet. I really like my classmates and most of the professors are pretty good. Some don't hold my attention all that well, but they seem to be good people. We just started our fall break, which we won't get any other year, but they give first years and my god did we all need it. We're starting the second round of exams but won't have another one for two and a half weeks (this after having at least one a week for about the past month). Luckily, the different departments seem to communicate pretty well and don't all have their exams at the same time. Which isn't to say it's a walk in the park. It isn't! After vegging out this weekend, I'll be playing some catch-up before classes start again on Wednesday.

 

[LivestockDoc]

Good to hear from you, variegata. Wisconsin is one of the schools I'm particularly interested in. Nice to hear that they tend to spread the exams out a bit.

 

[HopefulAg]

I'm anatomy-******ed and I posted about it in the Veterinary Students forum.

Me too. I'm not sure how everyone knows what to study but a lot of the stuff on tests are complete surprises to me. Some stuff I had no idea was clinically important at all but evidently...

I'm really cracking down on this next test and trying to learn every damn thing since my last approach (trying to focus on the 'important' stuff) didn't work out too well. Hopefully it doesn't turn out that I miss the forest for the trees. I'm kind of worried about specifics though. Like does the celiac artery supply everything its branches supply? Or does it only supply the three main branches? Or does it not technically 'supply' anything at all since it's only the branches (which are named something else) that supply things??

 

[BlacKAT33]

Like does the celiac artery supply everything its branches supply? Or does it only supply the three main branches? Or does it not technically 'supply' anything at all since it's only the branches (which are named something else) that supply things??

our professor was pretty strict about not naming the "Parent" or "Grandparent" for blood supply. So if he ever asked what supplies the stomach, jejunum, liver etc...and we put celiac or cranial mesentaric it would be wrong. I guess, I would say the celiac supplies blood to its branches but not specifically to an organ. Or you could say it is the "Parent" supply for blood to __. But yea, that's confusing.

 

[Risika]

Yeah, what we were told is technically, yes, saying a major branch is the blood supply for that organ is correct (heck, even saying "the heart" is correct) BUT one of the first things our professor told us when we first started to study blood supply is that she would not accept those answers. They want us to know more specific than just the major branches.

 

[HopefulAg]

If they asked what supplies the left greater curvature of the stomach I'd for sure put left gastroepiploic artery but I was more concerned about if they asked "what does this vessel supply?" and had the celiac a. tagged.

I'm just going to have to ask.

 

[BlacKAT33]

If they asked what supplies the left greater curvature of the stomach I'd for sure put left gastroepiploic artery but I was more concerned about if they asked "what does this vessel supply?" and had the celiac a. tagged.

I'm just going to have to ask.

Not sure about your professor, but ours would never ask that. He would ask, what are the branches of the celiac a? He will only ask what a vessel supplies if they are the last vessel to supply that organ, not a "parent" vessel

 

[katryn]

I'm having a minor panic moment, need to vent, and don't really care how stupid this is probably going to make me look. I hate scientific articles, and I'm now dreading our application based learning exercise coming up in November. For some reason, I just cannot read scientific articles. I fail at sorting through journal articles, I fail at filtering through the jargon to figure out what the article actually says once I find one, and then I walk away with a headache not knowing what I actually just read. *sigh* Does anyone else have this problem, or do I just epic fail? And does anyone know any good resources for learning how to search/sort/filter/read scientific articles? The how to course the library gives didn't help very much.

 

[dyachei]

I'm having a minor panic moment, need to vent, and don't really care how stupid this is probably going to make me look. I hate scientific articles, and I'm now dreading our application based learning exercise coming up in November. For some reason, I just cannot read scientific articles. I fail at sorting through journal articles, I fail at filtering through the jargon to figure out what the article actually says once I find one, and then I walk away with a headache not knowing what I actually just read. *sigh* Does anyone else have this problem, or do I just epic fail? And does anyone know any good resources for learning how to search/sort/filter/read scientific articles? The how to course the library gives didn't help very much.

So I don't think I ever read scientific articles for ABLEs. For my own reading, maybe, but not for ABLEs. They really want you to be able to use veterinary textbooks, notes and some will even tell you to google it. Most of the information covered is basic info, not brand new have to look it up in an article sort of info. Hope that makes you feel better about ABLEs at the very least.

If you really want to filter/sort through them, I'd read the abstract first and work from there.

 

[nyanko]

katryn: https://files.me.com/allostaticflux/19dznf

I know I know, an article about reading articles. But you should be able to understand it pretty well. It's technically about peer reviewing but I think it can be applied to critically reading published articles as well.

Hope it can help some...

edit: and as far as finding relevant articles, I prefer the ISI Web of Knowledge as they seem to have a wider base to draw from than Pubmed does, which is particularly important to us given that we are in veterinary medicine rather than human medicine. I agree with dyachei as well, read the abstract to tell if it's worth reading the rest of the article.

 

[cowgirla]

Ya those two reasons may be why they're not posting...either that or they have a life with better things to do then play cyberspace games with losers. Just saying

:troll:

 

[LivestockDoc]

:troll:

Yeah, you got it cowgirla. It's so strange to me when these random people show up on the forum to make some idiotic comment that none of us cares about. I know it happens on lots of different message boards. It just makes me wonder a ) what they find so entertaining about it, and b ) can they seriously not find anything else to do with their free time?

Oh well, keeps them off the streets, I guess.

Things that make you go Hmmm.

 

[turnbackhelly]

It does worry me, though, not hearing from people at some of the schools I applied to. Are they not posting about being majorly stressed b/c their school is less stressful, or b/c they are so crazy stressed that they have no downtime to get on the forum?

This. At least for me, at Cornell. Not sure where you applied, or if anyone from my class has already chimed in (not that I've seen), but judging by the general feeling in my class at the moment I'm gonna go with the latter here. I had doubts about PBL going in and so far it has been everything I feared it would be. That's not to say it isn't working (for me) - I'm learning a ton and did really well on our scary midterm - but it's been a frustrating experience overall. However, I don't have any major regrets about coming here and I know it will get better in a few weeks as we move into a new block. I'll try to pop back in at that time to elaborate, when we're less crazy busy/stressed. In the meantime, if anyone has any specific questions about Cornell do feel free to PM me. I will do my best to get back to you in a timely fashion.

 

[flyhi]

katryn: https://files.me.com/allostaticflux/19dznf

I know I know, an article about reading articles. But you should be able to understand it pretty well. It's technically about peer reviewing but I think it can be applied to critically reading published articles as well.

Hope it can help some...

Yes, I am also in the same boat Katryn.... just. so. confusing. sometimes

thanks, nyan...every little bit helps

 

[katryn]

Thanks for the encouragement Dyachei, and the link Nyan. I'm not too panicked about it now, but it was getting really frustrating yesterday.

 

[racccjlm]

Thanks for the encouragement Dyachei, and the link Nyan. I'm not too panicked about it now, but it was getting really frustrating yesterday.

All I can say is keep at it!! It takes practice! As you learn more in classes, and read more and more of these articles, they'll begin to make more sense. I'm not great at it either, but I've improved loads since the first one I read. I still remember sitting there for literally five hours on that article, and I STILL couldn't get it. So, I asked a friend who had a masters in biochem (he had read a lot of scientific literature) to help me and he had it figured out in 10 minutes. He said the same thing - it takes time and practice!

 

[StartingoverVet]

I'm having a minor panic moment, need to vent, and don't really care how stupid this is probably going to make me look. I hate scientific articles, and I'm now dreading our application based learning exercise coming up in November. For some reason, I just cannot read scientific articles. I fail at sorting through journal articles, I fail at filtering through the jargon to figure out what the article actually says once I find one, and then I walk away with a headache not knowing what I actually just read. *sigh* Does anyone else have this problem, or do I just epic fail? And does anyone know any good resources for learning how to search/sort/filter/read scientific articles? The how to course the library gives didn't help very much.

I completely feel your pain. We have this biochem project where we have to analyze a bunch of gene sequences, identify the mutated ones, and figure out which one is causing a hypothetical clinical case. We have to research what each of the proteins functions are for our genes, mutated or not.

I have no idea how to make this simpler and my eyes glaze over at all the abstracts a random search turns up.

And who comes up with these gene names? "RING1" stands for Really Interesting New Gene.... let me tell you, it aint so interesting and it aint new anymore. Apparently it is an E3 ubiquitin protein ligase. Ah, now I am enlightened.

 

[GellaBella]

Haha yeah I understand SOV. Scientists like to name things to give us a bit of immortality. I worked on a gene called mazE which means "what is this?" in Hebrew. The ones I have a love/hate relationship with though are the cutesy ones. Like sonic hedgehog. Sounds awesome and cute to those of us who grew up playing sonic on sega genesis but not so cute when you're a doctor telling someone their child has cancer cause of a mutation in their sonic hedgehog gene.

But if you want some help with the project let me know! I can probably help you get through some if the articles / BLAST searches faster.

Also why are you at home?! You should be out partying with the class!! (V'14 is celebrating the end if midterms with a night out at a bar, awesomely titles "what happens in vagus, stays in vagus"

 

[nyanko]

I completely feel your pain. We have this biochem project where we have to analyze a bunch of gene sequences, identify the mutated ones, and figure out which one is causing a hypothetical clinical case. We have to research what each of the proteins functions are for our genes, mutated or not.

That um, kind of sounds really fun...

And who comes up with these gene names?

Drosphila melanogaster researchers. True story.

 

[lalzi22]

Hey guys! Checking in from OSU here. We are in midterms right now and so far have had cell bio, anatomy and radiology is on wed. It's been pretty good. No tears, nothing unexpected...smooth sailing for everyone it seems. All my classmates and I seem to be taking it all in stride.

All the tests are spread out so we have 1 or 2 tests a week for like 4 weeks, and then 4 weeks of nothing till christmas. It sounds worse and more jam packed than it actually is. I usually study for like 3 hours a day, every day, and then take friday night and all of saturday off (except this past week because of midterms), and I have been totally fine grade wise. Most of my friends are fairly similar to me in their study habits. This isn't to say its easy, its a BUTT load of info, but its not harder than undergrad, just a larger amount. A lot of the info (for me at least) is a repeat from undergrad so far, so its not hideous, and if you pay attention during class and really pay attention, not just mindlessly take notes, a lot of it sticks. I get 8 hours of sleep a night, get to the gym 2 or 3 times a week, I can cook every night, and all my friends have times for their pets.

The curriculum is wonderfully put together here, so we can see clinical correlates between the random minute details we are learning in anatomy/histo etc... and real life practice. Especially in anatomy. At the end of each section they have a guy come in and give us clinical cases related to what we are learning. It's so much fun because we get to be like "oh yeah, THATS why I'm here!"

There are so many ways to get involved here to. I'm actually in like 6 clubs, one of them being milking team (!!!). We actually get paid to go milk the cows either int he morning or at night. Basically we get paid to touch animals and get handling experience. LOVE IT.

So yeah, minus the few gunners, its been pretty great here. LOVING vet school!

 

[BlacKAT33]

Also why are you at home?! You should be out partying with the class!! (V'14 is celebrating the end if midterms with a night out at a bar, awesomely titles "what happens in vagus, stays in vagus"

i got my paraconal interventricular groove on!!!!!!!

 

[sunshinevet]

Aw guys!!! There seems to be lots of super-stressed out first years atm, and trust me - that was me a year ago!

I swear to god though - it DOES get better - the content doesnt get easier, and it doesnt really slow down, but you DO get HEAPS better at handling it! And I know it feels terrible to just sit down and rote learn things, but you WILL be surprised at how much you remember in a years time!

Just remember, to hug your doggys and kitties, and horsies, and try to get a little bit of time around a clinic or animals or something - to keep things in perspective, and keep your drive high. You are here for a reason - because you want this soooo badly - and whats more, the schools you are at, believe you can do it too. You wouldn't be in vet school if you weren't good enough to make it through - REMEMBER THAT!!!

 

[Lissarae06]

Cowgirla, I am so pissed at that exam. I didn't think any of the questions was over new material. Which one was it?

 

[StartingoverVet]

Also why are you at home?! You should be out partying with the class!! (V'14 is celebrating the end if midterms with a night out at a bar, awesomely titles "what happens in vagus, stays in vagus"

I had drinks with dinner and almost fell asleep at the table, and I mean literally.

Then I made the mistake of trying to do some biochem when I came back (am I insane?)

Then I slept for 11 hours!

 

[LivestockDoc]

Hey Lalzi22,

Don't know if you'll have the chance to come back and check this thread, but I wanted to say THANK YOU for the OSU update! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can experience 1st year at OSU for myself next Fall, and it's great to hear that it's manageable, esp. considering the troubles that others are having at a few of the other schools. Good luck this year!

I'm joining that milking team for sure!

 

[BlacKAT33]

Hi Everyone!!

I just had a meeting with a guy from the learning center and it was GREAT! If anyone is feeling overwhelmed I definitely recommend it (they say to ask specifically for someone who knows the vet school curriculum).

Some advice I'll share with anyone else who is feeling like me:

-If your exam questions are taken from the handouts/slides (not the oral lecture part) don't waste time taking notes in class. Just listen. Do not take notes! lol trust that they will only test on the info provided to you

-Your 8 hours of lectures should be your first "study" time. you need to LEARN while you are in lecture. do not rely on "i'll go back later and learn this stuff"

-you can't prepare for classes and also review class material. there are only so many hours in the day.

-do not read books or make flashcards, it takes too much time. professors provide you with the slides/handouts and focus on those only

-do not waste time "learning/understanding processes" if the questions are based on pure memorization of terms.

Summary of main point: You do not have time to understand and learn the huge processes, TRUST that you will hear this info over the course of all of your lectures for the next couple of years. By then, you will understand the deep concepts. Til then, cramming is your best friend. However, you need to be in "cram" mode from the beginning so when the test comes you know the important terms already. Again, trust that after you hear these repeating subjects over the 4 years, you will by then learn and understand everything that you crammed before.

OMG I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER NOW This was not what I expected to hear at all, but it makes complete since.

He diagnosed me as "The undergrad who skipped class and had poor study habits who is now trying to make up for it by understanding everything in vet school she does not have time for...go back to cramming"

 

[Lissarae06]

So after our horrible physiology final this morning, our professor agreed that there was a misunderstanding when it came to the test content so he is going to adjust the grades accordingly. Second of all, I got my histo quiz grade back and I did really well. I have raised my grade in the class from an 80 to an 89. It really made me feel good to get that grade out of my mailbox.

 

[Nechochwen]

Hi Everyone!!

I just had a meeting with a guy from the learning center and it was GREAT! If anyone is feeling overwhelmed I definitely recommend it (they say to ask specifically for someone who knows the vet school curriculum).

Definitely second this!

After the first round of testing, I went to the learning center. It calmed me down for one thing and also gave me some sort of direction to work towards.

 

[EllieGirl89]

Hey Lalzi22,

Don't know if you'll have the chance to come back and check this thread, but I wanted to say THANK YOU for the OSU update! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can experience 1st year at OSU for myself next Fall, and it's great to hear that it's manageable, esp. considering the troubles that others are having at a few of the other schools. Good luck this year!

I'm joining that milking team for sure!

Eeeee I totally agree =) I see the vet school pretty much every day and am on the vet school campus every Wednesday in some form or another for Pre-Vet club stuff and I can't get enough of just BEING there. The vet school is tall and near a few roads so there are a lot of places from which you can actually see the vet school-so I randomly catch a glimpse of it quite often when I'm driving to the movies or to Target or going to class on Ag campus or even from the football stadium-yep, you have a birds eye view of vet school from the stadium. It just gets me more and more excited and I can't WAIT until things start moving.

 

[cuitlamiztli]

it's great to hear that it's manageable, esp. considering the troubles that others are having at a few of the other schools.

Not to be a Debbie downer or anything, but keep in mind that everyone handles vet school differently. Every school is going to have people who say "dude, it's manageable" and people who say "OMG I never have time to sleep and all I do is study!!" and plenty of people in between. It mostly depends on who you talk to. And you'll probably find that different people have different opinions on how the rest of their class is holding up. [/hijack]

 

[karmapple]

Not to be a Debbie downer or anything, but keep in mind that everyone handles vet school differently. Every school is going to have people who say "dude, it's manageable" and people who say "OMG I never have time to sleep and all I do is study!!" and plenty of people in between. It mostly depends on who you talk to. And you'll probably find that different people have different opinions on how the rest of their class is holding up. [/hijack]

This is so true.

I would also keep in mind that, while I wouldn't say that first quarter of first year at OSU is easy per se, it is definitely the easiest quarter I've experienced so far. It wasn't until second quarter that I really started to feel stressed.

 

[BlacKAT33]

I do feel like Penn is isolated in this "OMG its impossible" state lol but since we finished the whole dog YAY!! things are good now. The rest of our exams are also spaced out. EXTRA YAYY!! I think it is just a tradition that they've been doing forever...but it is over now *phew* and i guess i am super proud that i learned the whole body (except head) in that short of time! i just hope my score sort of reflects that lol we get them back next week!! They also said our histo practical in that same week was a scheduling mistake so i dont think it will be the same next year (lucky!)

 

[nitheninny]

Hi Everyone!!

I just had a meeting with a guy from the learning center and it was GREAT! If anyone is feeling overwhelmed I definitely recommend it (they say to ask specifically for someone who knows the vet school curriculum).

Some advice I'll share with anyone else who is feeling like me:

-If your exam questions are taken from the handouts/slides (not the oral lecture part) don't waste time taking notes in class. Just listen. Do not take notes! lol trust that they will only test on the info provided to you

-Your 8 hours of lectures should be your first "study" time. you need to LEARN while you are in lecture. do not rely on "i'll go back later and learn this stuff"

-you can't prepare for classes and also review class material. there are only so many hours in the day.

-do not read books or make flashcards, it takes too much time. professors provide you with the slides/handouts and focus on those only

-do not waste time "learning/understanding processes" if the questions are based on pure memorization of terms.

Summary of main point: You do not have time to understand and learn the huge processes, TRUST that you will hear this info over the course of all of your lectures for the next couple of years. By then, you will understand the deep concepts. Til then, cramming is your best friend. However, you need to be in "cram" mode from the beginning so when the test comes you know the important terms already. Again, trust that after you hear these repeating subjects over the 4 years, you will by then learn and understand everything that you crammed before.

OMG I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER NOW This was not what I expected to hear at all, but it makes complete since.

He diagnosed me as "The undergrad who skipped class and had poor study habits who is now trying to make up for it by understanding everything in vet school she does not have time for...go back to cramming"

I can't speak for Penn's program or the study skills required to make it through that program, but I can speak for Ohio State (at least in my limited experience so far).

At Ohio State, this would be HORRIBLE advice. You CANNOT cram. You CANNOT simply memorize. Here, we buy our class notes, so in theory, we are given all the information that will be on the tests before classes even start, but I can promise you that if the professor says something that isn't on the notes, it is fair game for the exams. You'd better be taking notes, because you will be so behind and lost if you don't. And pure memorization does not work for many of the classes we have, as they try to make you think through processes on the test questions. You have to understand what you are memorizing, you can't just rely on recall to get you through. They told us at orientation that you can't rely on cramming and memorizing. And as someone who did most of her studying via memorization, it's a challenge to switch, but it's not impossible. Also, I never read text books in undergrad, but for some of my classes here, the text books have been great to help clarify some concepts or at least provide me with a clear diagram of what I'm studying. Besides, I paid over $600 for textbooks, you'd better believe I'm using them!

That being said, I'll add to what lalzi said. Ohio State is awesome. There are definitely the people who are focused on grades, but honestly, they are so few and far between that I don't even know who they are. Everyone seems very laid back. That's not to say that we're not stressed or nervous about exams or anything. We all have our freak-out moments. But they do a very good job of structuring the curriculum. The exam schedule we're in right now is intense but not hectic. Anatomy lab is freaking amazing, I love it, even though I reek of formalin afterwards.

In terms of time spent studying, I will definitely say it's a lot, but I know one of our classmates takes a nap every day after classes and is totally fine. I get to the gym or go for a run three days a week (and could definitely go more often if I was ambitious!), I have time to watch TV or, you know, screw around on internet forums...

Basically to sum up, vet school here is hard, but certainly not impossible, soul-crushing, or heart-breaking. At least once a week I see something or hear about an opportunity or just have a moment that makes me realize, "HOLY CRAP, I AM LIVING MY DREAM. I AM IN VET SCHOOL." And every moment that I want to whine about histology or don't feel like studying or just want to sleep a little longer, I remind myself of how unbelievably lucky I am to be here, and how amazing my life has become.

 

[bunnity]

Actually I do almost exactly what BlacKat was advised to do. I go to class and just listen. I do not take notes. When I get home I listen to the lectures from that day a second time, and take notes. The week/weekend before the test, I go over the lectures a third and usually fourth and sometimes fifth time. On weekends I spend a ton of time in anatomy lab and studying for whatever test is next.

No flashcards, no videos, no reading the book, no drawing.
I study a lot every day, AND I cram like hell the weekend before.

And no, it is not because I'm studying wrong, or managing my stress wrong, since that seems to be the conclusion every time someone at Penn mentions what we're doing. It is because I am doing what I need to do, and what works for me, at the school I am at. And yes, I am retaining a lot of it. And yes, my soul is a little flattened.

 

[parietal]

I can't speak for Penn's program or the study skills required to make it through that program, but I can speak for Ohio State (at least in my limited experience so far).

At Ohio State, this would be HORRIBLE advice. You CANNOT cram. You CANNOT simply memorize.

Thank you for posting, nitheninny. I had the same reaction to this advice but was reluctant to post. However, I am 95% certain that if I would follow the Penn advice at Minnesota, I would fail. Probably miserably. By doing nearly the opposite of what was suggested (except that I do attend and work to actively learn during lectures), I am doing very well and my stress so far has been quite manageable.

Everybody really does have to figure out for themselves what will work in vet school. Maybe the advice blacKAT's received was tailored to her or to Penn, but I would warn strongly against 2015ers following it without seriously considering their learning styles.

 

[bunnity]

I don't get what was so bad about the advice.

Listen in class and don't take notes? We have everything recorded and get handouts for every lecture. There is no need to take notes first time around.

Take lecture seriously and learn it the first time? I would hope so.

Don't read books? For every lecture we get "suggested reading" which is usually about 50 pages of reading. Multiply that by four hours of lecture a day, you'd waste hours reading 200 pages when our tests are only on lecture material.

Don't make flashcards? Again, when you're in class 8 hours a day, you don't have time for that kind of thing. You spend all your time preparing to study and none studying if you're trying to make flashcards for everything.

Don't get caught up in understanding a huge process if you don't need to. Personally, for some things I learn better if I understand everything, but there are also times when it's ok to say "well I'm going to take their word for it" and not spend half an hour looking up the process.

Since I've talked to BlacKat in person about this I feel confident in saying that what she's saying is that you can't do everything. You can't look over the lecture before class and look over the lecture after class and read the book and make flashcards and get into every detail of every thing and draw a picture of every anatomical structure. You just can't. For example, we just had a lecture on endocrine histology and if we tried to look up everything about every hormone mentioned we would spend weeks on that and forget that what we're actually supposed to be learning right now is the histological structure of the endocrine organs. We learn SOME of the function but trying to fully understand EVERYTHING about the endocrine system NOW would be dumb because we'll have entire classes about that later.

 

[nitheninny]

Bunnity, all I was saying is that while that advice may work wonderfully for some people and may work wonderfully for UPenn's program, it doesn't necessarily work well for other people or at a different program. That isn't to say that I read every lecture beforehand, take notes during, reread after, make flashcards for each, read the textbook every night, etc. Let's not be absurd here. All I'm saying is that pre-vetters reading this should not assume that that advice will necessarily work at a different school. I don't think that's an unreasonable statement, and I don't think there's really anything to debate about it. Each school has a different program with different requirements, and each student has a different method that works for them at their given program. There's nothing wrong with or better about doing it one way or another so long as you do what works for you and the program you're in.

That being said, I certainly hope the advice helps those of you in Penn succeed and stress a little less. As I said earlier, we're living the dream here. We should be enjoying it as much as we possibly can.